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Werner Syndrome
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Werner Syndrome

Von Hippel-Lindau Syndrome

Burkitt Lymphoma

Works Cited


 
  Introduction
     Werner Syndrome is a disease which hastens the aging process.  It doesn't affect the person until he is an adolescent.  By the time he is about forty years old, he will look very elderly as shown in the picture below.  Werner Syndrome is very uncommon, as it is chromosomal recessive.  The picture on the left is of a young girl of fifteen before she is affected with the symptoms of Werner Syndrome, and the picture on the right is that same woman when she is only forty-eight years old.(Wozniacka)

Symptoms

  • Baldness
  • Beaked nose
  • High-pitched voice(Sinclair)
  • Graying of hair as a teenager
  • Muscular atrophy
  • Osteoporosis
  • Short stature
  • Thin
  • Wrinkled skin

 

If one is affected with Werner Syndrome, then he is also more likely to be affected by...

  • Arteriosclerosis
  • Diabetes mellitus(Wozniacka)
  • Cancer of the GI tract, lung, kidney, ovary, beart, and thyroid(Kahn)
  • Cataracts(Wozniacka)
  • Endocrine disorders
  • Infections
  • Retinal disorders(Black)
  • Scleroderma(Wozniacka)

Detection

  • fasting blood glucose test
  • oral glucose tolerance test
  • Triiodothyronine (T3) test
  • Levothyroxine (T4) test
  • Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) test
  • any needed test for blood vessels(Wozniacka)

 

Treatments or Cures?

There are no treatments or cures besides those which treat general effects of old age.(Wozniacka)

CHROMOSOME HOME


Helicase

Helicase, an enzyme whose coding is found on the WRN locus on the eighth chromosome, unwinds DNA and RNA during mitosis, is involved with the mutations leading to Werner Syndrome.  These mutations occur during the processes of replication and transcription.(Wozniacka)

http://www.bio.davidson.edu/Courses/Molbio/MolStudents/spring2003/McCord/wrn.htm

          Wozniacka, A. MD, PhD. “Progeria: Werner Syndrome”. eMedicine. 1 May, 2002. 18 November, 2004.

          Sinclair D. A. “Werner Syndrome”. Harvard Medical School. 1997. 18 November, 2004.

          Kahn, C .E. Jr., MD. “Werner Syndrome”. Collaborative Hypertext of Radiology. 26 May, 2004.

          Black, R., Macias, F., Rodriguez, M., Hanaoka, M. “Werner Syndrome”. Richland College. Spring 2001. 18 November, 2004. < http://www.rlc.dcccd.edu/MATHSCI/reynolds/progeria/Werner/werner_syndrome.htm>